Three more things …

First, I have no idea “how the show is going” because I haven’t seen any of it. I’m running around from thing to thing and have had no chance to judge. Based on the number of people I crashed into while running and tweeting simultaneously before lunch, it was busy. After lunch, I didn’t crash into as many. So, by that highly scientific assessment, lots of folks spent a few hours at the show and bolted. That, my friends, is par for the course these days.

Second, I wish all the best to my old friend Darren Davis who will become president of GCSAA Thursday. I haven’t talked with him recently about his goals and objectives for his term. I hope one of them is to promote National Golf Day and superintendents as advocates so effectively he shames the PGA of America into actually doing something besides folding shirts.

Third, Wednesday was — as always — my busiest and best day of the year. It doesn’t get any better than seeing hundreds of friends, taking too many selfies, meeting our best social media pals at #GCITweetUp18 and taking stock of how the business is doing. The short answer is that we’re doing better than we deserve given how dumb golf was in the 1990s and how much the recession really could have impacted us. It was easy, but through luck and vastly smarter management, golf has survived and come out even better than before. I hope we can avoid screwing it up again in future. Enjoy your Thursday at the show kids!

Naming a super vehicle

South Carolina superintendent Curt Sheffer enjoying a Toro-provided trip to GIS following a pair of hurricane recoveries.

With a pair of grueling recoveries behind him, Sheffer is receiving a needed jolt at the 2018 Golf Industry Show in San Antonio.

Sheffer, the third-year superintendent of the Plantation Course at Edisto in Edisto, S.C., submitted the winning name Outcross in Toro’s Project Delta contest. Selecting the name of the vehicle, which possesses qualities of a tractor and utility vehicle, earned Sheffer an unexpected trip to GIS, where the Outrcross 9060 is being unveiled. The vehicle will be available to superintendents later this year.

“I have been to nationals before, but it has been a while,” Sheffer says. “I was not planning on coming. It’s been a great experience. I got to bring my family, which is awesome. They got to spend some time at the Marriott Resort while I played some golf, and they had a blast. It’s just an opportunity I wouldn’t be able to have without this.”

The contest – or equipment for that matter – didn’t enter Sheffer’s thought process last September when Hurricane Irma passed through Edisto, a coastal community between Hilton Head and Charleston. A powerful storm surge, causing debris from surrounding homes and businesses to flow onto the course, taxed Sheffer and his crew throughout September, a busy golf month in South Carolina. Sheffer received a needed morale boost in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma in the form of a visit from Smith Turf & Irrigation’s Steve Miller and Toro global product marketing manager Noah Wahl.

“My regional Toro salesman called me beforehand that he was coming out,” Sheffer says. “He didn’t really say what for. We were in the midst of cleanup from Hurricane Irma on the coast. I was pulled to all ends of the golf course, stressed out, trying to pull out my hair, but I don’t have any hair. (Miller) called and I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll make some time.’ I never met Noah before, and Noah showed up and asked if I remembered the contest.

“At the time, I didn’t remember anything other than what happened five minutes ago. He started explaining it and it all started coming back to me. He did a little presentation with the team and they were talking about the machine and how they chose my name. The whole stress of the hurricane, the whole stress of the golf course being closed kind of went away for a couple of hours. It was a real nice surprise.”

So how did Sheffer determine the name?

“A cross between a tractor and utility vehicle was what we were going for,” he says. “Hybrid kind of came to mind, but hybrid is a word that everybody uses for everything. I did a little research and Outcrossing came up. It’s how they use it in genetics. They take the best of both organisms to make a super organism. I figured that was what Toro was going for with cross as part of the name, motocross, being outdoors and everything. It just kind of molded together.”

Guy Cipriano is GCI’s senior editor.

Get out to grow

Leaving the shop or office is just the first step to build a better department and ignite your professional development.

It's time to get out of your comfort zone because not only you, but your department will benefit from it.

That was the main -- albiet it quick -- message Patrick Drinkard presented during an education session packed with turf and equipment professionals earlier this week.

Drinkard, equipment manager at Cordillera Ranch Golf Club in San Antonio, was one of nearly a dozen industry professionals who took part in Lightening Round Learning! The unique format challenged professionals to address topics in a quick, fast-paced and entertaining format. For their five-minute presentation, participants were allowed only 20 slides that automatically advanced every 15 seconds.

At the heart of Drinkard's presentation were eight rapid-fire tips on the importance of leaving the maintenance shop -- or office -- and what to do to benefit your department and overall career.

Get out on the course once or twice a week to see the end result of your work and the challenges the turf managers face.

Make sure your one the same page witht the director or superintendent, and make it a goal to keep open lines of communication.

Use a prism when inspecting all areas of the golf course.

Check on equipment in the field to see if it's being used correctly and the workers are utilizing all of the safety features.

Visit other departments and learn more about how they operate.

Get certified and get involved in the industry.

Establish a mentorship program, either finding a mentor for yourself of serving as a mentor for an up-and-comer at your facility.

Get on social media because not only are there a lot of new ideas, it's a great format for meeting new colleagues and networking.

"In the end it all comes down to you," Drinkard says. "Do you really want a change in your shop and what are you going to do to get it?"

John Deere Golf Previews GPS PrecisionSprayer

New sprayer provides innovative solution for golf superintendents and other turf professionals.

John Deere provides insight into the future with the GPS PrecisionSprayer for the John Deere ProGator™ line. With the GPS PrecisionSprayer, superintendents and other turf professionals will have access to proven, off-the-shelf John Deere solutions for precision spraying that increases application accuracy and consistency, decreases input costs, reduces operator fatigue while increasing ease of use, and enhances documentation.

The GPS PrecisionSprayer offers multiple benefits, including:

Spray a predetermined area in less time with pass to pass accuracy using AutoTrac.

John Deere Golf Expands PrecisionCut Fairway Mowers

CLICK HEREto watch a video of John Deere Product Manager Brad Aldridge discussing how the new additions meet turf managers top expectations -- quality of cut, efficiency, and cost.

Building upon the success of the 8000A E-Cut Hybrid Fairway mower and its popular three-wheel platform, turf professionals will soon have additional fairway mower options with the John Deere 6080A, 6500A and 6700A PrecisionCut Fairway Mowers. The 6080A, 6500A and 6700A Models leverage all of the fairway mower technologies from the John Deere award-winning A Model family of Fairway, Rough and Trim & Surrounds Mowers. These new A Models were designed out of a customer need for improved budget control while still delivering a fairway mower truly designed for the rigors of fairway applications.

“With tight operating budgets and increasing labor costs, our customers needed a cost-effective solution to get the job done,” said Brad Aldridge, product manager, John Deere Golf. “With this in mind, we challenged ourselves to design a machine that boosts productivity and maintains quality of cut while keeping costs down, and we’ve done that with the 6080A, 6500A and 6700A Models.”

These three new models are true fairway workhorses with a powerful 24.7 HP(18.4 kW) diesel engine, three-wheel smooth tire configurations, and premium performance and comfort features. Operators will immediately notice that these three models fall in line with existing John Deere A Models demonstrating exceptional cut quality, even on hills, thanks to standard LoadMatch™. The innovative eHydro transmission eliminates linkages between the pedals and the hydrostatic pump. All models feature hydraulic mow circuits, and provide all-day mowing with various width-of-cut options:

Additionally, an eight mph (12.9 kph) mowing speed allows operators to mow more area in less time.

As with all A Model machines, the 6080A, 6500A and 6700A Models also feature the innovative TechControl Display with password-protected supervisory controls. TechControl allows turf managers or technicians to input a wealth of commands, including mow speed, turn speed, transport speed, and service timers, while also providing on-board service diagnostics – giving them complete control over cut quality and performance.

The 6080A, 6500A and 6700A Models also provide several features aimed at increasing machine and operator uptime, including internal hydraulic wet disk brakes that eliminate linkage adjustments and grease points in the brake system, along with a traction drive system requiring only one fluid type for maintenance. Finally, operators will appreciate the comfortable operator station with Command Arm mounted controls that adjust with the seat. The 6080A, 6500A and 6700A Models provide an outstanding quality of cut in undulating terrain thanks to a rear-attaching yoke on the cutting unit. The trusted A Model Fairway Mower platform provides strength and durability. Combined with the standard GRIP all-wheel drive traction system, these additions climb hills easier without the worries of high side tire slippage.